Hi everyone! This is my really first Alex Rider themed fanfic, I hope you will like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Alex Rider series

Phantom Project

Chapter 1

Three entrances, windows that are low enough to jump through: multiple escape opportunities. Check.
Children, the same age as you are: camouflage. Check.
Pens: equipment that can be somehow turned to weapons if needed. Check.
Suspicious people: possible enemies. Searching...

Although he'd been living in America for years, Alex Rider still couldn't get used to the new environment. After all he'd gone through, he couldn't feel safe anywhere anymore.

"Hey, what's your last lesson?" Sabina Pleasure was walking next to him on the corridor.
Alex looked dizzily at her, such as she'd woke him up from a long dream. "P.E."
"Right." The girl said. "Then we can meet in front of the gym after that and get home together."
Alex noded and turned to the right wing of the building. Sabina went to the other direction.

Then, he could hear the bell go off. He had to run to avoid getting late.
On the way, he saw workers dressed in orange jumpsuits. They were swapping the light bulbs of a classroom. As he ran past them, one of the men stood in front of him, blocking his way. He tried to get past, but then he saw a shiny little object in his right hand. A gun.

"Come with me, kid, I've got a friend who wants to have a nice chat with you!" He smiled, getting closer and closer to the boy. Alex took a step back. He was wondering about performing a karate kick, but it was too risky. He was in point blank range and concluding from the other mechanics' reaction – who didn't even bat an eye – Alex was sure that they were with the attacker. In this situation, all he could do was obeying.

The man led him through endless corridors, but stopped at the canteen. It was about 14:00 and most of the children were having lunch there.
"If you say a word..." The man whispered to his ears, pushing the barrel to Alex's back.

They went next to tables with youngsters waving to Alex, greeting him. He tried to alert them, but they didn't get it. Finally, he peeked around the area to find something useful. Nothing.

Then, they got into the kitchen. The air was hot by the ovens. To Alex's surprise, there was noone around, so he was left alone with the man surrounded by huge pots, frying pans and pieces of cutlery.

When they stopped, Alex finally had time to examine the other one's face. He looked somehow familiar to him, but he had no clue from where. There was only one thing obvious: he was there for no good.

The man in the orange jumpsuit smiled at him. "It's good to see you again, Rider, but I am afraid, it will be the last time."

The boy moved backwards as he saw the assassin rise the gun, making it ready to be shot.
Then, he pulled the trigger.

Everything happened so fast, that the adult couldn't even comprehense it.
In a split second, Alex took the top of a giantic pot and pushed himself to the floor, throwing the metal object at the man the same time.

The bullet missed its aim, making a mark on the wooden surface of a counter. Alex was all right, but he couldn't say the same about his attacker. The assassin was laying unconscious on the floor.

However, he had no time to relax: the shot was so loud, that it could be heard anywhere inside the building for sure. And it was the last thing Alex needed to be seen by the students and teachers flooding into the room. No. He ended his spy career and didn't want to start the long line of interrogations and returning memories again. Just no.

He saw a window with the view of the schoolyard and rushed to it. To his luck, it wasn't closed.
He opened it, glancing out. He was about four metres above the ground.

Then, he heard footsteps. " You!" Someone shouted from the behind.

"I won't get back to that hell with MI6. No, no and no!" He thought and made up his mind.
Alex climbed up to the frame of the window and jumped.

Fortunately, the enormous shurb under the window saved his life. Anyway, it could have made him happier, if it had had no thorns.

Children gathered around him after they saw him fall, but he didn't care. He stood up and began to run and get himself free from the branches and leaves sticked to his clothes on the way.

He knew that the man wasn't alone. There were about three other orange-jumpsuited goons.
Alex could only think of one person. Sabina.

He remembered that the girl had chemistry lesson that time and started heading to the laboratory. He had to take her to safety.

When he entered the building again, a guy in a white cloak ran up to him. His name was Kevin and he visited the same lesson as Sabina.
"Get away, Rider!" He shouted at him while rushing to the main exit. "There must be some kind of terrorist attack here."
"Where's Sabina?" Alex asked, but the boy was already far away from him.

Alex ran to the lab so fast that he could feel terrible pain in his legs.
The room had two huge white doors, which were originally closed, but this time, they were wide open.
When he entered, he saw broken test tubes everywhere and some unknown liquid dripping from a desk to the ground. The sound it made drove Alex crazy.

"Here must have been a fight." He thought, seeking even more desperately for the girl.
He wanted to push his fists to the wall. Nothing. Sabina was gone, hell knows where.

"Maybe she went home with the others." He thought, but it seemed too unbelivable for him. The girl would never leave him behind this way for sure.

Then, his eyes stopped on the board. It wasn't a chemical reaction written on it, but a short, three-word sentence that sent shivers down his spine.

Scorpia never forgets.

This is the end of Chapter 1.

If you like it, drop me a review, please - that would mean a lot to me. :)